A domestic violence charge can have devastating consequences if you need a fingerprint clearance card for work. Even before you ever go to trial on your charge, you may receive a notification from the Department of Public Safety (DPS) that they have suspended your clearance card. Simply being accused of a domestic violence offense could cost you your job.

Many people charged with a domestic violence offense believe the victim is the one “pressing charges” and thus the victim can get the case dismissed. That is not the case. The State, or prosecution, is the one that brings and prosecutes domestic violence offenses.

A lot of clients are confused about how they ended up with a domestic violence charge for what seems like a relatively minor incident with someone they are not intimately involved with. What makes something “domestic violence”?